Today SaskTel announced that it will invest approximately $301 million of capital in Saskatchewan in 2018-2019* and over $1.4 billion through the next five years. The investment will ensure SaskTel customers across the province will continue to receive some of the best and most advanced wireless, television, Internet, data, and IP-based technologies and services available today.

"Our Government is committed to ensuring that the residents of this province have access to leading edge communication technologies," said Don Morgan, Minister Responsible for SaskTel. "SaskTel continually invests in its network and infrastructure to maintain and improve on the services that it delivers across the province."

"SaskTel takes great pride in its ability to deliver the latest and greatest wireline and wireless services to our customers," said Doug Burnett, SaskTel Acting President and CEO. "With the constant evolution and pace of change in the communications industry, we know that investing in our network is critical to stay competitive."

Highlights of this year's core Saskatchewan investment program include:

• In 2018-19, SaskTel will invest $61.2 million in its Fibre to the Premises Program (FTTP).
• Bringing infiNET to Saskatchewan consumers is a $670 million twelve-year program announced in 2012 which targets to have 100% of homes in the nine major centres in the province passed by 2022. In 2018-19, the FTTP program will pass over 30,000 homes (including aerial installs in Regina, Saskatoon, Martensville, Warman, Emerald Park and White City) with a focus of connecting 22,000 more customers to infiNET in Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, Swift Current, Weyburn, Estevan, Yorkton, North Battleford, Rosthern, Martensville, Warman, Emerald Park and White City.
• $6.3 million for Fibre to the Business (FTTB)
• Fibre optics will allow SaskTel to deploy download speeds up to 300 Megabits per second (Mbps) initially, with the capacity to significantly increase speeds over time. Customers will be able to enjoy faster download and upload speeds which will enhance the online experience streaming video, uploading photos or videos, or participating in real-time gaming and video chat. infiNET will also support up to 7 HD capable set top boxes, the ability to combine faster Internet speeds with maxTV while improving the TV watching experience.

• In 2018-19, SaskTel will invest $37.0 million for wireless network enhancements.  This includes:
• $26.5 million - Long Term Evolution (LTE) enhancements - The 4G LTE network covers 99% of the population of the province and provides data speeds approximately 10 times faster than 4G allowing customers to stream HD movies, high quality video and music, share pictures and videos, game faster than ever before and download applications lightning fast.
• $1.5 million - SaskTel Select Wi-Fi expansion.
• $9.0 million - Wireless network demand and growth including $2.3 million for Long Term Evolution – Time Division Duplex (LTE-TDD) Fusion capacity enhancements.

• In 2018-19, SaskTel will invest $93.7 million on several initiatives to meet wireline network growth.  This includes:
• Network modernization- $23.7 million
• Access and Core Demand and Growth - $42.0 million
• Regional Ethernet Transport Improvements– $10.0 million
• Community Participation Programs and Partnerships - $1.0 million
• maxTV Growth - $6.0 million
• Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) - $10.0 million
• Other network enhancement - $1.0 million

• SaskTel will also invest $109.1 million to improve customer services through continued investment in IT platforms and service enhancements. Key initiatives include:
• Upgrades at a SaskTel building that hosts a large amount of critical network equipment used to provide services to SaskTel customers and that is a critical site for SaskTel business and competitors that are co-locating and/or using the customer data center. This includes replacing end-of-life electrical equipment, which will provide greater capacity, reliability and maintainability.
• Business Tools Evolution Project which will implement the Core Customer Relationship Management capabilities that provide the foundation to evolve SaskTel's business customer focused systems and processes.
• IFRS 15 Implementation program which is the implementation of the new IFRS 15 Revenue Standard that establishes principles for reporting useful information to users of financial statements about the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from an entity's contracts with customers.

*Capital spending is for the fiscal year 2018-2019 – April 1, 2018 – March 31, 2019.

2018/19 Capital Investment

About SaskTel
SaskTel is the leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) provider in Saskatchewan, with over $1.2 billion in annual revenue and approximately 1.4 million customer connections including 607,000 wireless accesses, 356,000 wireline network accesses, 279,000 Internet accesses and 111,000 maxTVsubscribers. SaskTel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries offer a wide range of ICT products and services including competitive voice, data and Internet services, wireless data services, maxTV services, data centre services, cloud-based services, security monitoring services, advertising services, and international software and consulting services. SaskTel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries have a workforce of approximately 4,000 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs). Visit SaskTel at www.sasktel.com.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Michelle Englot, Director of External Communications
Phone: 306.777.4476
Email: michelle.englot@sasktel.com